SUNDAY
.
3 Israel, put your hope in the LORD
both now and forevermore.
.
In the cave of my dark days
I sometimes bear no hope
.
But still I hold on to a hope
For a hope to yet return
.
And there is a faint flicker
Of an old dancing drum
Somewhere deep within
.
And even when the light is bright on the statues they made
To celebrate my success
Still the sun is warming open fine cracks
Laying me down
As dust
.
But when I tumble
I will fall
Into the open arms
Of the loving God
We finally managed to get the kiln down the cellar steps today. It has been a bit of a puzzle- how to move half a ton of metal and fire bricks down some crumbling narrow stairs into a confined space.
Some very kind blokes who are used to moving heavy objects around the hillsides did the job. Thanks boys!
They were able to set up a ground anchor, and use a sledge and winch line to lower the kiln.
Its a big relief- and I look forward to seeing some pots emerging out of raw clay…
SATURDAY
.
like a weaned child I am content.
.
My soul is made sclerotic
From fast eating
Arterial flow all slow
.
But to this broken place
Your manna falls
.
Tiny morsels
Mixed in milk
Are all I can hope to stomach
And even so I am blown full
Like a belching baby
.
I ask no more
It is enough
FRIDAY
.
I am like a weaned child with its mother;
.
The half-shadow you cast on my spirit
Is warm and soft
And I am left hollow from feasting
And ragged from all my richness
.
I am desperate-
Reaching out beyond these straws I grasped
Craving for the shape of you
Held in distant memory
.
Catch me in this simple thing
Called home
THURSDAY
.
2 But I have calmed and quieted myself,
.
Time is a claw in which I am squeezed
Each day hooked on a hundred demands
Each second hard wired to the current crisis
.
And in all the noise of it all
You are silent
Because you were not in the thunder
You were not in the lightning
.
You were not in my efficiency
You were not found in my effectiveness
.
You were waiting
In the stillness
For an end of the me
So the we could begin
WEDNESDAY
.
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.
.
I have taken my seat at the high place of state
Sometimes I decided for life
And sometimes for death
I am the author of my own song
.
But then the stars shine
And I am small again
The flutter of my own heartbeat might carry away on
The whisper of the night winds
.
And I know nothing
But you
(Easter island image from here.)
.
TUESDAY
…my eyes are not haughty;
.
I walk with a purposeful stride
And people shuffle in my wake
Swaying at my turbulence
.
Because nothing is impossible for this man of God
No peak will remain unclimbed
No valley unseeded
None of your puny walls can stand against me
.
Why then Lord God
Would you mine my path
With these stumbling stones?
Talking of David- this made me smile-
I have spent some time preparing some meditations on Psalm 131 as part of our continuing Aoradh project to prepare some common meditations, which we then e-mail around our small community (along with others who have asked to be included in the circulation list- let me know if you would like to be included too.)
This next week I have been rediscovering my way into a favourite Psalm of David-
Psalm 131
A song of ascents.
Of David.
1 My heart is not proud, LORD,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.
2 But I have calmed and quieted myself,
I am like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child I am content.3 Israel, put your hope in the LORD
both now and forevermore.(NIV)
I thought it might be good to post my contributions on this blog too, so here is the meditation for Monday-
This week we will use the words of one of the shortest and most tender Psalms of David.
David- the all conquering King of an ascendant Holy Nation, whose deeds in battle will be sung for a thousand years.
Whose beauty, talents and wild edge of passion make him the admiration of every man, every woman.
Standing before JHWH.
Consumed by his frail humanity.
Creaking on his feet of clay.
I caught the end of a lovely programme this afternoon on Radio 4 all about ‘pop up cinema’- an idea we in Aoradh have been playing with- where you set up your own cinematic happening.
Simon has had this dream of using the old buildings on Dunoon pier as a temporary cinema/discussion space. Others, it seems are doing similar things…
The programme was all the more interesting, as it contained a live (Scottish) audience discussion with one of my favourite directors- Ken Loach. He works in a rather unique way, with actors improvising rather than using a script. His subject material is often working class Britain, and people marginalised and brutalised by poverty.
His films are always challenging, poignant and saturated with humanity. And some have made me laugh out loud. One of the things he said on this programme really made me smile- he said that he could only make films about people that he liked.
This is film making that is motivated by a set of principles a million miles from those that predominate in Hollywood, and we British people should be proud of what Ken Loach has achieved.
The film being discussed on the programme is the challenging Sweet Sixteen– filmed within sight of my house over the other side of the Clyde in Greenock.
A powerful film, that I have not been able to watch twice- but some of the images still linger with me.
Here is a clip- with French subtitles for all you posh people who can’t understand the accent.
